Autographic register



(No Model.)

W. L. EGRY. AU'roeRAPHIe REGISTER.

No. 481,937. Patented Sept. 6,1892.

[baat l Q Broni/1f a SmiZ ras,

WIWIHW ZS/tgsr Inventor @MMM "1 Pimm. Wney NITE STATES WILLIAM L. EGRY,OF HAMILTON, OHIO.

AUTOGRAPHIC REGISTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 481,937, datedSeptember 6, 1892.

Application filed March 16, 1892.

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM L. EGRY, of Hamilton, Butler county, Ohio,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in AutographicRegisters, of which the following is a specification.

This invention pertains to improvements in l that class of registersdesigned for the production of a record in duplicate or triplicate, onecopy of which is retained locked up in the machine. Such registers arein quite common use in commercial houses, the general plan of operationsbeing, in the case of a retail store, for the salesman to write out anitemized bill on one of a series of printed forms carried in a roll ofthe machine, the writing of this bill by appropriate use of carbon ortransfer sheets causing one or more copies to be simultaneously madeupon paper furnished by other rolls carried in the machine. The feedapparatus of the machine being properly manipulated, projects theWritten bill and its duplicate and they may be turned off, giving onecopy for the customer and one for the cashier. The third copy becomesstored in the machine under lock and key and forms the retained recordoi' the transaction, this record on its later removal from the machinegoing to the book-keeper for suitable checking and entry. Let us callthe copy given to the customer the bill and the copy going to thecashier the cashiers ticket and the copy retained in the machine therecord Some business houses give no bill to the customer, in which casethe machine needs to provide only for two supply-rolls, one for cashierstickets, and one for the record. Some business houses give the customera bill but retain no cashiers ticket, in which case again the machineneeds but two supply-rolls, one for bills and one for the record. Onlythe roll for the bills is composed of printed forms, the other paperbeing blank. Generally the bill-forms are about five inches long and thebills made out will contain sometimes one item or two items, andsometimes the form will be full. In any case each transaction, as theregisters are generally constructed, consumes five inches from each ofthe rolls of paper. Quite a number ot attempts have been made toeconomize in paper on the record-roll; but the proposed plans havegener- Serial No. 425,086. (No model.)

ally involved more or less rewriting of a su mmary and in some cases anadditional length of bill-form. The dollar and cent columns ofbill-forms are seldom more than an inch wide, and these columns containor may coutain all of the matter which need go onto the record-sheet Inother words, it is not necessary that the record-sheet shall contain themerchandise entries,the cash or value entries being sufficient, to whichit may be desirable to add the consecutive number of the transaction andthe name of the salesman and the name of the purchaser, the absence of apurchasers name indicating a cash sale.

The object of my invention is to provide for a record-sheet which shallcontain only an autographic transfer of the entries made in the marginof the bill or in the dollars and cents column, these columns ofentries, which come longitudinally of the bill and ticketslips, comingacross the record-strips, so that each transaction consumes but an inchor so of the record-strip.

A further object of my invention is to provide an extrasat'eguardagainst the lifting of the upper papers from the record-sheet.

My improvements will be readily understood from the followingdescription, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, inWhich- Figure l is a perspective view of an autographic registerillustrating my improve ments; Fig. 2, a vertical longitudinal sectionof the same in the plane of linectof the other igures; Fig. 3, a similarsection in the plane of line CZ of other figures; Fig. 4, a verticaltransverse section in the plane of line b of other iigures; Fig. 5, ahorizontal section in the plane of line c of other igures; Fig. 6, asmall view of one of the bills, and Fig. 7 a small View of a portion ofthe record-sheet containing transversely-arranged columns of entries.

In the drawings, A indicates the writingtablet, forming, as usual, thetop of the machine; B, a double pan under the tablet to support the rollof paper for the bills and the roll of paper for the cashier-s tickets;O, the roll of paper for the bills, which paper will contain bill-forms,as usual, this strip of paper passing up through and along over thetablet, as usual; D, the usual feed-rolls for IOO drawing the bill-paperand ticket-paper forward out of the machine and along upon the tablet;E, the roll of paper for the cashiers tickets, this paper being blank,as usual, and going along with the strip of bill-paper over the tabletand under the bill-paper and between the feed-rolls, so that theoperation of the feed-rolls draws the paper from both supply-rolls; F, aroller over which the bill and ticket-strips pass as they go up to thetablet; G, the ends of the bill and ticket papers projecting out of themachine beyond the feedrolls, these two papers being torn off at thatpoint over the usual tearing-blade after the papers are projected thelength of the bill; H, a pair of longitudinal slots in the tablet of alength equal at least to the dollar and cent columns of the bill-formand so disposed with reference to the rolls C and E and the paper fromthem as it lies on the tablet that these slots will come at the sides ofthe dollar and cent columns; J, that portion of the tablet between theslots, and consequently forming a tablet-surface under the dollar andcent columnsof the bill; K,therollof record-papersupported at one sideof the machine and parallel with its length, so as to be at right angleswith the bill and ticket rolls, this roll in the exempliication beingsupported in the trough; L, a pair of feed-rolls for the record-paperdisposed at the opposite side of the machine; M, the record-paper,(shown in F1' g. t as passing from the record-roll K up through one ofthe slots Il and then over the tablet portion J and then down throughthe other slot and then between the feed-rolls L N, a lockedrecordstorage compartment containing the feedrolls L and adapted toreceive the recordpaper from those rolls, the paper as it leaves therolls doubling down into this storage-compartment; O, the usual roll oftransfer or carbon paper supported alongside the machine; P,a slot outot' which the transfer-paper comes from its roll, this transfer-paperlyingj as usual, upon the tablet between the other papers, the roll 0containing a double strip of transfer-paper, as usual, when the machineis used for producing three copies, the transfer-paper as it liesbetween the other papers being used so long as it is good, after whichmore is drawn out and the used-up portions cut off; Q, the usual housingover the feed rolls D; R, bevel-gearing connecting the feedrolls D andthe feed-rolls L, the proportions of the rolls and gearing being suchthat while feed-rolls D advance the bill-paper the length of a bill thefeed-rolls L will advance the record-paper a distance equal to the totalwidth7 at least, of the valuecolumns of the bill; S, one of the billscontaining the usual itemized entries; T, the usual value-columns of thebill, containing the values of the items and the total of these values,and in addition such other memorandums as it may be desired to put uponthe record-paper-such,forinstance, as a consecutive number, the date,the salesmans number, and the customers name if the sale is a creditsale; U, the columns of entries produced upon the record-sheet, eachcolumn being a fac-simile in all respects of the matter contained in thevalue-columns of its bill, these columns on the record-sheet comingacross the sheet and close together; V, a bar disposed longitudinallyover the tablet over the inner ones of the slots H, and thereforecorresponding in position with the ruling at the left hand of the dollarand cent columns of the bill-forms, all the papers passing under thisbar, which bar should be as closely down against the papers aspracticable and be also as narrow and thin as is consistent with properstrength; WV, a doorway to the storage-compartment N to permit of therecord being removed from the compartment, the removal being eifected byopening the door and drawing out the record and tearing it ott at itsfeed-rolls, and X the usual crank for operating the feed-rolls.

The operation of the machine is as follows: The proper supply-rolls ofpaper having been loaded into the machine the record-paper is carriedover its tablet portion .T and then started through its feed-rolls L andthe storage-compartment is locked. Then a layer of transfer-paper isbrought over the tablet. Then the ticket-paper from roll E is broughtover the tablet above the transfer-paper and carried thro ugh thefeed-rolls D. Then a layer of transfer-paper is brought over the tabletover the ticket-strip. Then the bill-paper from roll C is brought overthe tablet and through the feed-rolls. The feed-rolls are now operatedto bring abill-form fairly over the tablet and the machine is ready foruse. The salesman fills out the bill, as usual. Everything he writesbecomes of course transferred also to the ticket-strip, and whatever hewrites in the value-columns becomes transferred also to therecord-strip. lle now operates the crank to project the whole of thebill out at G, and he then tears off the bill and ticket. This feedingmotion has brought over the tableta fresh bill-form and fresh pap erfromthe ticketroll and fresh paper over the record portion of the tablet,and as the use of the machine continues the record-paper becomes storedin the storage-compartment, where it cannot be tampered with or eveninspected by unauthored persons.

It is usual in this class of machines to arrange over the tablet anopen-margin frame, which holds down the edges of the strips and to acertain extent prevents the upper papers being lifted to give access tothe record-paper; but it has still, been found possible to lift thesepapers by pulling them up at the center of the tablet. The bar Vprevents such lifting of the paper and also prevents the hasty writerfrom getting a pencil-point into the inner slot H in the tablet.

It is to be understood of course that the form and design of machineherein set forth is merely an exelnplication of the embodiment of myinvention.

IIO

It will be understood by inspecting Fig. 4,

irst, that all of the papers are backed by the saine tablet; second,that the record-paper is backed by but a portion of the tablet whichbacks the other papers, and, third, that at portion J of the tablet thepile of papers are all together, While at the left of J a rigidsurface-to Wit,a portion of the tablet-is interposed between therecord-paper and the rest of the papers.

I claim as my invention- 1. In an autographic register, the combination,substantially as set forth, of a Writingtablet, a pair of feed-rollsarranged to feed a strip of paper longitudinally over the tablet, a pairof feed-rolls arranged to draw a strip of paper transversely over thetablet, and a rigid surface interposed between a portion of the twopapers, whereby writing done upon certain portions of the top paper willnot be transferred to the lower paper.

2. In an autographic register, the combination, substantially as setforth, of a writingtablet, a pair of feed-rollers arranged to feed astrip of paper longitudinally over the tablet, a longitudinal slot insaid tablet under said strip at a distance from its edge and dividingsaid tablet into a main portion and a side portion under said strip, anda pair of feed-rolls arranged to draw a strip of paper through said slotand over said side portion of the tablet.

3. In an autographic register, the combination, substantially as setforth, of a Writingtablet, feed-rolls arranged to draw a strip of paperover said tablet, and a rigid bar disposed over an intermediate portionof the tablet at right angles to said feed-rolls and parallel with theline of travel of said strip.

et. In an autographic register, the combination, substantially as setforth, of a writingtablet divided by a slot into a main portion and aside portion, a support arranged to hold a roll of paper at one side ofsaid tablet parallel with said slot, a pair of feed-rolls at the otherside of the tablet parallel with said slot, a support arranged to hold aroll of paper at right angles to said slot, and a pair of feedrollsdisposed at right angles to said slot t0 operate upon the last-mentionedpaper.

5. In an autographic register, the combination, substantially as setforth, of a writingtablet having a dividing-slot and a rigid bardisposed above the surface of the tablet over said slot, and mechanism,substantially as described, for drawing a strip of paper over andparallel with said slot and under and parallel with said bar and fordrawing a second strip through said slot under the first-mentionedstrip.

WILLIAM L. EGRY.

Witnesses:

J. IV. SEE, WM. S. GIFFIN.

